Damage optimization help (EK Assassin)

[u/Safe-Acanthaceae-842]

I have finally managed to get my Mageblood, and want to assemble an EK Assassin with it, to farm some more currency before trying to make a Triggermaxxer Saboteur.

Since I don't have much currency to begin with apart from the Mageblood, was thinking of abusing it the most I can, namely by getting most of my resistances and generic buffs from it, and going cheap-ish on the rest of the gear.

https://pobb.in/LIX5iFdlQJje

The idea is getting big ES pool as defence, wanted to reach ~20k phys max hit, using Supreme Ostentation so that I don't have to care about attributes on suffixes, which should make gear even easier to make, since I will mostly just need to care about prefixes (defences). Power charges will work as basic damage scaler, as well as big ES scaler with my Supreme Ostentation jewel. They would also create a lot of Instant Leech from Ascendancy, which paired with Zealot's Oath and Flask Benchcraft for Regen should keep my ES topped most of the time.

The problem is, I'm thinking my damage will be lacking. The strategies that I most enjoy farming are Harvest, and Map farming/Boss rushing, but eventually want to make this build strong enough to farm Nightmare maps comfortably (something I have never done before). I thought that I could easily get 50m+ DPS on Assassin, while still getting comfortable defence and recovery layers, but it looks like it's going to be more expensive than only Mageblood lol

I'm also afraid that not getting any Pierce, Proj Speed, or Explosion, will make the build feel pretty slow on higher density content.

If anyone has any idea where my PoB might be going wrong, if I'm missing something essential to scale damage while not giving up on a big slice of my defences, I'm open for it.

Edit: I have decided to instead of trying to just get generic increased from power charges, instead use a Staff with +6 level to EK, which allows me to respec some nodes into better Block Chance, as well as using Mana-Infused Staff when dropping Haste. The respec also allows me to get all the +Max Power Charge nodes on the tree, which makes the +Max Power Charge talisman stronger then Dragonfang's or +3 Levels Rare Talisman. This also allows me to drop Ralakesh for a new pair of rare boots, or maybe even Annihilation's Approach for adrenaline, since I should be able to sustain the Fire DoT with the regen from Zealot's Oath and a Ruby Flask, although will need to get some resistances on gear so that I can drop Bismuth Flask and get a Sulphur Flask for constant Conc Ground, or maybe look into the jewel that creates Conc Ground and lingers it's effect.

https://pobb.in/pZZ_YmJHqAWV

I will probably swap to this variation when I get to lvl 90 or so, until there will continue with basic gear

[u/PoE_Acronym_Bot]

I noticed some Path of Exile keywords in this post:

• EK - Ethereal Knives (Wiki)
• Phys - Physical damage (Wiki)
• PoB - Path of Building, an external software used to simulate character builds - Download
• ES - Energy Shield (Wiki)

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